By 2008, there were rumors of an important new hire that Mark had made to the executive team. That Friday, he convened an All Hands to introduce Sheryl Sandberg, a high-powered, multimillionaire advertising and operations executive from Google, as chief operations officer. "Sheryl and I met at a party and we immediately hit it off," Mark announced.

"We began talking for hours," he went on. "She asked me questions about how I was running the company. I was really impressed with how smart she is." Mark spoke with an uncharacteristic smile and glow, not flirtatious exactly, perhaps a function of some kind of sense of relief, as if he had been seeking someone like Sheryl for some time. "When I met Sheryl, the first thing I said was that she had really good skin," Mark continued, "and she does," he said, gesturing toward Sheryl, whose face had an admittedly creamy tone. She was smiling and didn't flinch.